Tel and Robbo

[robbo]

Hi, I've just signed up so thought I would say hello. I've just retired and so has Tel, so it seemed like a good idea for us to relax together. Tel is 4 and was a top racer at Yarmouth Stadium until earlier this year. He was knocked over and injured his shoulder so has not been able to hold a tight line in the bends. Rather than run him in lower grades, his owners decided to retire him and that's where I got lucky.
He's very affectionate, but is still getting used to other types of dogs. We look forward to meeting you on the next walk.

[Stuart]

Hello and to our message board, nice to see another Greyhound owner on.... the Whippets were starting to take over!

Looks like you certainly did get lucky with Tel he's adorable!

Hope to chat to you plenty on here i'm sure you will find it a freindly place to be.

Feel free to particpate in any of the existing threads and if you need any help with anything feel free to PM me.

Stuart.

[robbo]

Thanks for the welcome ! Tel has certainly changed my life. I don't seem able to go anywhere without being stopped for a chat about him or for people to stroke him and get leaned on!

[Sara]

Hi Robbo & Tel,
Hope you have fun on the boards & hope to meet you both at some of the events too
Tel's gorgeous by the way!

[Tuesday's Rose]

Hello *waves* Welcome to the boards.. Hope u have fun on here

[looking4dog]

hello

[looking4dog]

well the boards look great now, there cool

[Stuart]

looking4dog said:

well the boards look great now, there cool

Thanks very much, only took a couple of 3am evenings! Ithought it could do with a bit of sprucing up! Good to see you posting.

Thanks.

[Johnny]

Hi Robbo & Tel, and a very warm welcome to our club and it's boards

[Sighthound Fan]

I LOVE YOUR DOG!!!
This is mine

His name is Lenny and he was abbandoned my gypsies five years ago (he's now about 10 we think). He never leaves my side...I won't let him! How anyone could abandon him I don't know.
Did you race Tel yourself, or did you addopt him?

[robbo]

Thanks for the compliments about Tel. He was bred, trained and raced locally by Tony McDermott, a top local trainer and I adopted Tel from him. I look forward to meeting you and Lenny. He looks just as soft as Tel!

[Sighthound Fan]

I don't know how owners can rehome their dogs when they've finished raceing. I know I couldn't do it. I supose if they didn't you wouldn't have such an amzazing dog though. Has Tell ever been to a show? Cause he's got the pose for it!

[robbo]

I think many trainers are a bit limited for space and need to keep homing retired racers so that they can get a new dog. I only know a couple of trainers personally and both are very fond of their dogs but the racing is the main thing for them so they can't keep them all. Tel's previous owners keep in touch and help out with advice and discounted feed and medicines.
I took Tel to the Mildenhall Gala and he got 3rd in his group. The judge said he was so pretty he should be in with the bitches!

[Stuart]

It's good to here there are some responsible breeders out there... but I just can't get my head around Greyhound racing, I know the dogs love the running, but I just can't help but think they would be more happy doing it on an open field with other dogs to "play" with not "race" with!

Some breeders should reme.mber the phrase "A Greyhound is for life, not just for racing".

[robbo]

I think it's called coursing

[Stuart]

robbo said:

I think it's called coursing

No... its called.... Bark-in-the-Park!

[robbo]

ha65Nice promo! I'll see you there, tho' I don't think I'll be letting Tel run free. He's still too 'keen', but having said that, I'm not sure he's ever going to lose the urge to chase - guess that's why he was so good on the track

[Sara]

You never know, Pixie was keen when she came to us & we couldn't let her off the lead. Now, however, she's really good and lives happily with our cats & all. We take her for walks without a lead at all now - well a walk/run on the field which is only 2 houses away . We still have to muzzle her around other dogs though.

[robbo]

Well, that sounds encouraging. It's still early days for Tel, tho' I have to say he's improving all the time. At present, it's just the unpredictability of his reaction to cats and very small dogs, so I play safe and keep him on a short lead if any come near.

[Sara]

I suppose it took about a year or so for Pixie to lose the urge, sounds a long time but it soon flies.
She still enjoys a chase though, especially with the Whippets on the bark in the park!
She knows which side her bread is buttered: as much as she probably enjoyed the racing life - she enjoys sleeping on our sofa more...

[Stuart]

NO ON SOFAS!!!

[Sighthound Fan]

Lenny, like I said was abandoned by gypsies and was used by them for rabbiting. I can still totally trust him with all dogs (from chihuahuas to wolfhounds), cats, chickens, domestic rabbits, mice, guinnie pigs...the list goes on. The only things he will chace are wild rabbits and hares. I can let him off the lead in open land and he will run off to chace rabbits but ALWAYS comes back, there was one occasion when I thought I had lost him (at about 9 at night) and left for home. At 3 in the morning I heard scratching on the front door and there he was! He had gone for 5 miles through sheep fields and everything to get home and not hurt a fly.

[robbo]

I guess in time I might be able to let Tel run free and have him come back, but at the moment I can only use a fenced in-area. He'll chase a thrown ball and will usually run back in my general direction and drop the ball nearby, but he's just as likely to catch the ball and stay there or go off on a gallop to the spot furthest from me and just stand there looking daft. He really looks wonderful when he's running and seems so happy but it doesn't take much to catch his attention and have him tearing off to inspect!

[Stuart]

Sophie is a bit like that and she has never raced, so it may not be too much of a problem, what we have learnt and always do, is to walk away from her if she wont come when called, if you keep walking and ignore him you'll probably find that he will come tearing back to you afraid that your leaving him! It ALWAYS works with Sophie, even if we get a 2 or 300 yards away she will still come running!

Another trick is to get someone to hold him on the lead, you run off about 100 yards or so, get the other person to let him go, and you keep calling him and hopefully! he will come chasing after you, and always give him a lot of fuss when he comes to you!

You should try it in your enclosed area first of course. If you havent been to Earlham Park before, you will see that it is so big that the gerys wouldn't have enough energy to run far enough to get lost!!

[Sara]

We used to go to an enclosed dog-walking area in Belton but it's been closed down now I think
Was superb for Pixie when we first got her as it's the only place we'd dare let her off the lead. It would've been a great place to take Tel.
Do you know anywhere else that's enclosed?